dance hall, n.
Brit. /ˈdɑːns hɔːl/, /ˈdans hɔːl/, U.S. /ˈdæns ˌhɔl/, /ˈdæns ˌhɑl/
[‹ dance n. + hall n.1]
1. A large hall or building where public dances are held, esp. where music is played for dancers paying an admission fee. In later use also: spec. a disco or nightclub.
| 1845 J. H. Ingraham Wing of Wind i. ii. 11 The room was a low ceiled apartment, about forty feet in length, and fourteen wide... It was the dance hall of the ‘Golden Anchor’, and had witnessed many a wilder and more lawless scene than that which the young man gazed in upon. 1858 Mass. Acts & Resolves 125 Any person who shall offer to view..any..show, concert, or dance-hall exhibition of any description shall be punished by a fine. 1893 Overland Monthly Oct. 354/2 The roar and din from the dance-hall came to her on the night wind. 1926 Amer. Mercury July 363/1 ‘Caruso’ Mancusi, the ice-man, gives a ball at Donlan's dance hall..to raise the money to make him a grand opera star. 1970 G. Greer Female Eunuch 249 The boys used to go to the local dance halls and stand around..until the..sexual urge prompted them to score a chick. 1993 Vibe Sept. 85/3 Packs of these autoeroticists roam today's dancehalls, clad in tight ‘batty rider’ bicycle shorts and see-through negligees. 2001 Scotl. on Sunday (Electronic ed.) 22 July His playing is rooted in the great local traditions of polka and slide, but his virtuoso skill means that he can turn a great crowded barn into a Kerry dance hall. |
2. Freq. in form dancehall. An up-tempo style of popular music originating in the dance halls of Jamaica and derived from reggae, in which a DJ improvises lyrics, or ‘toasts’, over a recorded rhythm track or instrumental version of a record. Also more fully dancehall reggae. Cf. ragga n., toast v.3
| 1982 (title of record) A dee-jay explosion: inna dance hall style. 1983 S. Davis & P. Simon Reggae Internat. ix. 112/1 Anything him play on sound good at Studio One, de original dance hall sound. 1986 Reggae & Afr. Beat 5 iv. 20/3 Pato Banton and Tipa Irie blew away the uninitiated..with broadsides of UK-style raps that blended the tradition of JA dance hall with live backing sounds. 1989 Newsday (Nexis) 15 Dec. 26 Like hip-hop and house music, dancehall is bass music... Brutal dancehall reggae [is] represented on the radio by songs like Foxy Brown's ‘Sorry (Baby Can I Hold You)’. 1995 Guardian 27 Jan. ii. 11/5 Junglism—assertion of modern cultural identity by Afro-Caribbean kids raised on rocksteady, Marley and dancehall. 2000 N.Y. Times 11 Aug. e27/3 Buju Banton started out as a dance hall toaster, bragging with raspy enthusiasm about girls, guns and macho exploits, including an infamous song about gay-bashing. |